EDITORIAL: Crisis declared, it’s time to get to work

Oct. 27--President Donald Trump on Thursday made a long-awaited declaration that the opioid scourge confronting our community and so many others across the country is a public health emergency.

It's more than just rhetoric. Trump's formal declaration paves the way for a spending plan that, he promises, will include money to fight this deadly problem. Significantly, he plans to bypass rules that now keep Medicaid money from going toward addiction treatment programs.

"No part of our society -- not young or old, rich or poor, urban or rural -- has been spared this plague of drug addiction and this horrible, horrible situation that's taken place with opioids," Trump said in making his declaration.

Yet, as significant as his announcement is, especially in terms of drawing renewed focus to this unyielding problem, a speech and spending plan aren't enough. Indeed, the actions of Trump's administration so far have fallen short of his campaign promises for a robust response. Developments inside the White House -- including the controversial nomination, recently withdrawn, of Rep. Tom Marino to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy -- are not encouraging.

The good news is that Trump has a strategy for addressing the crisis. Let's hope he implements it.

We caught a glimpse of the approach earlier this year when a commission assembled by Trump detailed nine ways the administration could go about dealing with the spread of opioids and addiction..

For example, the panel urged the Trump administration to put its shoulder behind prescription drug monitoring programs. A Massachusetts version -- which doctors are required by law to consult before giving opioid painkillers -- is credited with helping stem the number of opioid prescriptions by 28 percent over three years. Thirty-one states have agreed to share information in their prescription databases. Every state should be involved.

Another important strategy offered by the commission is developing technology that can detect trace amounts of fentanyl, the dangerously potent synthetic, in the mail or at the border.

Another of its ambitious objectives is putting doses of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone in the hands of every police officer in America.

Members of the commission, which is led by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also urged Trump to escalate Thursday's declaration and call the opioid crisis a national emergency. Though he's used the term rhetorically, an actual declaration would have opened the lid on even more federal dollars. It also would have given the government more leverage to force private makers of naloxone to reduce their prices.

Such a broad declaration may not be necessary, and it's certainly not as important as Trump's team buckling down on the plan put in front of them, which is expected to be finalized when the opioid commission follows up later this month.

The stakes in this crisis continue to grow. Nearly 60,000 people died last year due to opioids. Some 2,000 of them were residents of Massachusetts.

This crisis has done untold damage in our region, and every day seems to bring a new example of how it has affected lives of people who've never used opioids.

First responders are wary of incidental content with fentanyl and its more powerful opiate cousin, carfentanil. Parents of those who've struggled with addictions, or died because of them, now are raising their grandchildren.

Even the smallest creatures are affected. In Andover last weekend, a dog on its morning walk suffered an apparent overdose after chewing on an empty cigarette pack suspected of having contained some amount of opioids.

As the crisis continues to sprawl, it's assuring to hear our president give it the attention it deserves. Now, President Trump's administration must deliver by implementing bold, ambitious plans to do something about it.